How to Disable a Car Alarm With or Without the Remote

August 25, 2020Car Care and Revamp
Christina Hernandes

Christina Hernandes is a seasoned writer with a passion for helping individuals and families navigate the complexities of relocation and car shipping. Christina combines her expertise in automotive transportation with a knack for delivering practical tips and engaging content. With years of experience in content creation and a focus on stress-free moving solutions, Christina’s articles are your go-to guide.

If you don’t know how to disconnect a car alarm system once it starts to malfunction and randomly go off, you came to the right place. Alarms are a great thing when they work properly and warn you of potential threats to your vehicle, like messing with the locks or breakage of windows. On the other hand, once they begin making annoying noises for no reason, you might lose your marbles. Your car might start making noise at inappropriate times, or even become impossible to drive. Luckily, it’s not that difficult to disable a car alarm, and there are a couple of ways to do so, with or without the remote.

The majority of cars nowadays have some sort of built-in (factory) alarm systems that are controlled with remotes or fobs. Other vehicles have aftermarket alarms which are additionally bought. Whether you want to learn how to disconnect a car alarm that keeps going off or you’re wondering How do you turn off a factory car alarm, we’ve got the answers you’re looking for.

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What Causes the Car Alarm to Randomly Go Off?

If you notice that your car is frequently making this loud noise and trying to warn you of theft, even though there’s clearly nothing going on, it’s time to get to the bottom of the problem. A few things can lead to this quite irritating situation, which can even cause driving stress or even road rage if you drive a car that’s constantly blaring. Take your safety gloves and check the following issues:

  • The first step should always be checking the most common cause – the wireless remote or the fob, as well as the battery inside
  • Be sure that you didn’t hit the panic button by accident
  • If the remote works perfectly fine, it could be the hood latch sensor, which shows if your car’s hood is properly closed. If it isn’t properly maintained because of some damage or lack of cleaning, it could be the reason for occasional beeping
  • If you keep your hood latch sensor clean, the problem could be the connections
  • Older vehicles might have problems with switches on door locks, hood, and the tailgate. Make sure you check if that is the issue.
  • If none of these issues are causing the problem, you should check the ultimate reason – low car battery.
four wheeler on the street
Having constant noise coming from your car can annoy both you and your neighbors.

How to Disconnect a Car Alarm by Just Using Your Key or the Remote?

Roughly speaking, there are two answers to how to turn off a car alarm with or without the key. The most simple and usually the most effective solution you can try is manually locking and unlocking the driver’s door. A large number of factory alarms turn off once you put the key in the lock of driver’s or even passenger doors.

You can also try a similar method – pressing the lock or unlock button on the remote fob. Unlocking the doors with the right remote fob will shut down most fabric alarms. If that doesn’t do the trick, press the lock and then the unlock button while standing close enough to the automobile. If you notice that you have to press the buttons on the remote key fob multiple times before the doors lock or unlock, it’s possible that the battery inside is going dead and that it should be replaced.

If you accidentally pressed the yellow or orange panic button, know that these alarms stop after some time. If starting the vehicle doesn’t shut it off, the driving will.

If Unlocking the Doors Didn’t Work, Try the Ignition

One last thing left that you can do with your key is to start the engine. It can happen that the car’s alarm is connected to the engine immobilizer. This means that the system can get locked up and prevent you from turning the key once it’s in the ignition. Fortunately, there’s a solution for that as well – ignition should fix this and reset the system right away.

Another thing that you can do is to try is to open your trunk manually by putting the key into the trunk lock. If your car is wired in a way that the trunk area deactivates the warning system, then you have a winner.

If you have an aftermarket model, you’ll also need to reset it. Look for a switch and put it in the “on” position. Then press the gas pedal while the key is in the ignition position. Once you hear fast beeps, you will know that the signaling device has been reset.

If you don’t succeed at first, try to repeat the action a few more times. It could just be the solution to your problems.

These are the quick fixes that will just disable the beeping immediately. If none of these options worked, that could mean that a more complicated problem exists.

usa auto transport car
The remote or the key will solve this problem in most cases.

What Are the Ways to Turn off a Car Alarm Without the Remote?

Okay, but what happens when the remote is useless? What else can you do? Take the owner’s manual and try looking for a solution. Every vehicle brand uses different alarms, so there could be some specific way to turn it off. Another usually successful solution is removing the fuse. These fuses are used to send electricity to various parts of the automobile, so look at the manual and see where the one responsible for warning sounds is. Once you see the diagram in the owner’s manual and know which one is the one you need, it’s time to disable it.

How to Disconnect a Car Alarm Fuse Box? Try This Method

The box you’re looking for is usually in the engine bay or in the cabin under the steering wheel on the left side of the steering column. If it’s in the cabin, put on the safety gloves and remove the trim so that you can access it. Remember that the trim is fragile, so be careful not to break it once you take it off. The next step is to get pliers or plastic tweezers and use them to cut the alarm’s circuit.

Once you pull out the fuse that sends electricity to this problematic system, the noise will stop immediately until you replace it. If you’re not sure which fuse is the right one, try pulling out one at a time and seeing whether the sound stops. Once it does, return it to the box. Keep in mind that the sound shouldn’t start again, but if it does, you will most likely have to take the vehicle to a professional mechanic.

If You Have an Aftermarket Model, Things Might Be Different

Don’t get confused if you see that your aftermarket fuse box doesn’t have fuses. If you bought and installed the system after you bought the car, keep in mind that the box is usually in the engine compartment. If you can’t find it, consult a manual to see the right position of the correct fuse you need.

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How to Disable a Car Alarm Permanently?

If you’re wondering how to disable a car alarm permanently, the answer is yes, of course. There are simple instructions if you want to know how to disable a car alarm permanently. You should just unlock the door, start the car, remove the fuse, or disconnect the battery of the car. When working with electronics, it’s crucial that you guard yourself against injury. So take safety gloves and glasses, park your car on a solid, dry, and level surface near your home and grab the owner’s manual. Only after you have your safety gear on, you can get to the details of how to disable a car alarm permanently.

How to Detach the Battery?

So, you took the safety measures and are ready to learn how to disable a car alarm permanently. Let’s check one of the best methods.

This is the only method left that we haven’t explained, and luckily you don’t have to pay someone to do this for you because there are some quite simple instructions. A detachment of batteries resets all of the electrical systems in the car, and they won’t start until it’s reconnected.

If you’re not too familiar with what’s under the hood of your automobile, the first step is to locate the battery. This vehicle part is in the engine compartment in most cases, but there are some models whose batteries are in the trunk. It can be next to your spare tire, under a piece of carpeted wood. There might also be some cover on top of it, so remove it carefully to gain access.

When you find it, follow the thick black cable that’s connecting the negative terminal to the body of the automobile. Then, detach the negative terminal from the ground wire. For that, you’ll have to use a wrench or pliers. There’s no need to touch the positive cable. You will have to loosen the nut that is holding the black cable to the terminal so that you can slide the cable off. All the electronics in the car should be shut down at that moment. The system should be reset by now, but if the problem persists, do all of this again. That should do the trick.

Another thing that you can come across with aftermarket car alarms are small backup batteries, while most factory alarms don’t have them. They are used to keep the warning signals functioning after the battery for your car has been disconnected, but they can’t power the horns and lights for long. The primary role of these backup batteries is to keep the signaling device in working condition while you work on your car, so you don’t have to reset anything when reconnecting the primary one. To locate these batteries, look up the user manual. If you have factory-installed backup batteries, use the owner’s manual to see where it is and disable it. If you can’t find it, it will eventually die if detached from the primary one for too long.

How to Reconnect It?

Once disconnected, batteries can’t be hooked back immediately. Wait for an hour before you reconnect the ground cable to the negative terminal again. The same nut that you loosened now must be tightened so that it secures the cable to the terminal. Make sure that you did it right – it must be placed firmly. Thinking about that cable coming off in the middle of riding and shutting the car off can cause driving anxiety or even an accident, and you wouldn’t want that. If there was any kind of cover on top of the battery, place it back as it was. You can check if there are any issues left by starting the car.

The situation after connecting the batteries back is the same as with the fuse boxes – when you connect everything right, the sound should not appear again. In case it does, you must call a professional to repair your four-wheeler.

a front of a red car
If nothing you tried stopped the sound, a mechanic is your next address.

Why Would Someone Turn off Their Alarm Permanently?

There could be a few possible reasons for someone to not want this sound turned on at all, and the main one is that it can make your vehicle unable to start. Another one could be that alarms become unreliable with time, and instead of being helpful, they become a problem.

But the one reason that shouldn’t be overlooked is professional auto shipping. If you’re planning to move a car to another state on an open trailer, some shipping companies may ask you to disconnect the car alarm. That could be a way to prepare the car for shipping so it wouldn’t start making noise in the middle of the road and beeped all the way to your new home. Even if you choose the enclosed trailer, which is the option that protects your car from the outside factors, it would still be useful to know how to deactivate a car alarm.

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